//------------------------------//
// The Blurred Intersection 
// Story: My Little Mages: The Revenge of Nightmare Moon 
// by Foxhelm 
//------------------------------//

As Twilight piloted the Charun over the Everfree Forest, she could not help but notice that Fluttershy was extremely close to the mast. “Scared of heights?” Twilight asked, just to get the question out of her head and done.

“Oh… no… it’s the falling and crashing that scares me.” Fluttershy answers ashamed.

“Never heard of a Skyborn afraid of flight before.”. Twilight commented without any judgment.

“Want to make something of it, Fluttershy has been bullied and teased to almost no end back in Cumula, and if you got some smart comment to say about it. I swear by Bloom, the first Angel, I will not miss!” Rainbow said. She was very much irate as she readied her bow.

“Rainbow, please you don’t need to be so… violent.” Fluttershy said trying to calm Rainbow Dash. It worked as Rainbow Dash put her bow back in the quiver on her back.

“Ya’re going ta find a lot of atypical people in Magiville, why look at me. I am a paladin and Ah’m not far from running the whole of Sweet Apple Temple. Rarity, here, she sounds like she’d blend into Manahattan, but her family is about as country as me, granted it's a different part of the country. Pinkie’s from uh long line o’ rock farmers, but she’s about as far in terms of personality as that sort tend ta get. Flutters, as ya can see is a Skyborn tha’ prefers solid ground under her feet in addition ta bein’ good wid just about any animal ya can think o’. Rainbow’s competitive and talks a big game, an’ like many Skyborn more than willin’ ta follow ya ta tha ends of tha globe, even she knows when ta cut back on the things she’s excited about. An’ yer not tha typical Magicborn yourself, most ur likely ta spend time wid other academic minds sharin’ thair findin’s, but near as Ah can tell yer tha type ta avoid groups, even if it means sharin’ yer findin’s, not ta mention ya got one of tha hardest familiars ta ‘ave. From what Ah’ve ‘eard about’ dragon familiars most outright reject a connection like what ya got wid Spike regardless of their age. Face it Twi, the honest truth is yer just as atypical as tha rest o’ us, maybe even more so.” Applejack said as she stepped in between Rainbow as she hovers off the side of the skyboat and Twilight.

“So what are you implying? That I belong in is mix-match of miss-fits?” Twilight asked rhetorically. Twilight looked away and saw Pinkie Pie. As she looked at Pinkie she noticed that her elbows and wrists were twitching in opposite directions of each other. A feat that was, for most people, borderline impossible, but given what Twilight had seen of Pinkie Pie, the arcane mage wrote it off as an annoying habit the trickster picked up out of boredom. “Can she even stay still for more than a second. She was less annoying when she kept asking ‘Are we there yet?’” What Twilight didn't seem to notice was the utterly shocked look on Pinkie's face, this was clearly something bad.

Applejack turned to see the same thing. Her skin paled at the sight. “LAND THE BOAT!!!” she ordered.

“Why? We still have to pass the... poison...joke...” Rarity started until she too saw Pinkie's action. Along with her, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy noticed Pinkie Pie’s actions. “LAND THE BOAT!” Rarity ordered, not as forceful as Applejack.

“Why?!” Twilight questioned, she was also not too keen on being yelled at.

“LAND THE BOAT, NOW!” Rarity and Applejack ordered. Twilight huffed to dismiss the lot. At that moment what could best be described as a cannonball just narrowly missed the boat, passing over the deck of the boat and barely missing everyone and the mast.

“LANDING THE BOAT!” Twilight shouted as she started to lower the boat rapidly with the realization that they were under attack.

“NOT ENOUGH TIME!” Applejack yelled as she grabbed Twilight and jumped off the boat. Unbeknownst to Twilight, Fluttershy grabbed Rarity and Rainbow swooped to get Pinkie Pie. Another cannonball punctured the hull. However what Twilight did see was the Charun exploding into tiny bits as she fell with Applejack. Also unbeknownst to her, a tree was reaching out to safely catch them.

“Find the bodies, make sure they are dead and bring me them,”  Hydia ordered the doppelgangers and the undead. “Well, the apprentice at least. Have fun with the others if you so de...”  Hydia was then sent back by the force of a divine spell, one of the few long-range ones known to paladins, Angelic Shot. The succubus was deeply wounded. “Damn, they have a paladin. I don’t care what you do to the others, being me that bitch, as well. I am going back.”  Hydia said as she took off from the boat and flew back to the castle. The Doppelgangers started to change forms to look like Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. The undead just waited until the boat landed. A hunt was on.

“Twilight, Sugarcube, come on, Ah know ya ain't dead,” came Applejack's voice from what sounded like far away.

“Put the hay in the apple and...OUCH! Hey! What was that for?” Twilight asked as she started to rub her check from being slapped by the paladin.

“Ya started babbling about putting hay into apples.”

“What happened? Where is everyone?” Twilight asked as she looked around.

“Yor skyboat was fired upon by some sort of magic cannonball. I grabbed ya and we jumped.” Applejack informed as she helped Twilight back to her feet.

“How did you know to do that? How did we survive?” Twilight asked

“In reverse order, as an Earthborn, Ah have a strong connection to the earth, mostly trees … apple farmer and all and these are wild apples. As to how Ah knew, Pinkie Pie.”

“What? How?” Twilight asked utterly befuddled. 

“Pinkie Pie, like me is an Earthborn, as such she has a connection to the Earth. It seems her connection manifests itself as the ability to receive messages from the Earth as some sorta early warning for certain upcoming events. Ah’ll explain it all later, but for the time being it’s suffice to say that while we in Magiville don't know every action, we all know they each have their own meaning. We call it the pinkie sense. That one which you called attention to before Ah ordered to land the boat, is known as the Elbow Dozzy. It means imminent disaster. Last time Pinkie had that it was just before Apple Bloom accidentally set the barn on fire if Pinkie Pie didn’t have it… Ah try not to think about it.” Applejack paused, clearly this was a subject she rathered not talk about. After a minute, “Now we got to find the others. Oh before we go. Ah got to put this on ya.” Applejack said as she applied some mud on her face and Twilight's face.

“What is this for? ” Twilight asked utterly baffled at Applejack's action.

“This is something I learned from Zecora when she was in town a while back. Ya see this mud reacts with the skin of Changelings and Doppelgangers forcing them to show their real selves.”

“Wait... what...” Twilight tried to question.

“Can't be too careful in the Everfree. Now let's find the others.”

“Hold on…some sort of explanation would be helpful,” Twilight ordered.

“We’re in the middle of the most dangerous forest in Mystica, separated from the rest of our friends, and we are racing against the clock, now ain't the time for an in-depth discussion. Ah know we met only yesterday and things haven’t had the smoothest of starts, and Ah know it’s not easy, but you’re going to have to trust me.” Applejack said with a stern face, but her eyes were soft.

Twilight sighed, “Alright.” she said and the two went deeper into the forest, Applejack leading the way.





“Oh... I will never do that again.” Rarity said dramatically as she struggles until she notices that she's stuck in a tree. But this tree was out of place most of the other trees were oak, maple, hickory and such. The tree she was in was an apple tree, specifically a… wild apple or Malus sieversii. “Fluttershy, we are on the ground you can change back.” Rarity knew the druid was the tree she was stuck it.

“No.” came a frightened and, for lack of a better term, tree-ish version of Fluttershy’s voice.

“You’ll only change after we regroup, won’t you?” Rarity asked as she managed to maneuver herself so that she was sitting on a branch.

“Yes…” Fluttershy in her tree form answered.

“Well if you could just move your branches so that I can get to the ground safely, that would be marvelous, Darling.” the branches of … Fluttertree moved to become sort of like a slide, well as much so as a Malus sieversii physically can. Rarity made it the ground safely. She gave her clothes a once-over. “Well, my dress is in good condition. A nice long soak will take care of the stains. But my heels are absolutely ruined. I should have worn my flats.” Just then Rarity saw Pinkie Pie and... Applejack… and Rainbow Dash and… another Fluttershy and … herself, in fact, three of each, heading right towards her and Fluttertree. “Oh Fluttershy can you influence any nearby animals, we have Doppelgangers.” Rarity said as she started to levitate stones.





Rainbow woke up in an iron-like cloud ball, she was so glad she spent the time learning that one. Looking over at her lap she noticed a potentially disastrous missing Pinkie Pie. “I go to all the trouble to make sure we are both alive after we get hit by a cannonball that makes ships explode and she’s not around,” muttered Rainbow, “I hope she’s only just going around picking flowers, I’d hate to find out that my attempt to keep her from harm failed and I ended up with a Pinkie blood pancake.”

“That doesn’t sound very tasty, or healthy,” came Pinkie’s voice. Parting some of the cloud Dash found an overly large tree branch supporting Pinkie...and a family of squirrels in business casual attire having tea and acorns...?

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked, almost instantly regretting it.

“Because acorns go well with tea and these little guys looked like they needed to be taken more seriously.” Pinkie answered in her cheerful way but with an underlining ‘well duh’. 

“Tea party with animals, that’s more Shy’s thing, you do know that?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“This is a business meeting to see if we can get Everfree oaks to grow in Magiville. Mostly so that the Golden Oak can have a few saplings… you know just in case. The Golden Oak is a really lonely and old oak.” Pinkie Pie answered a little down for the tree. 

“Plants don’t procreate like…” Rainbow Dash started taken aback at what Pinkie Pie was saying.

“I know that. Just looking to the future.”

“Just dot the ‘i's and cross the ‘t's. We got to find the others.” Rainbow Dash said just giving up.

“So what are we looking for?” Pinkie asked as she seemed to teleport to right beside Rainbow Dash.

“A wild apple tree with three pink butterflies carved into the trunk.”

“Are you sure Fluttershy went Fluttertree?” Pinkie Pie asked not sure if that in fact happened.

“She does that when she’s scared, and that explosion most definitely scared her.”

“But what about Rarity and… Oh, hold give me a second.” Pinkie Pie then jumped out of the text, leaving an utterly flabbergasted Rainbow Dash, and scrolled back up to see that Rarity is with Fluttertree and Applejack is with Twilight. After seeing that she jumped right back into the text. “We’re good,” Pinkie Pie said as Rainbow Dash looked around to see what, where, why and how. But stopped when she realized the who (It’s Pinkie Pie). “Um, why are there two of you over there?” Pinkie said as she pointed ahead, there were two Rainbow Dashes with two Rarities and a Fluttershy. “Guess those Doppelgangers aren’t too bright.” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled out a giant cartoonish mallet. Rainbow Dash pulled out her bow and aimed.





As Applejack and Twilight walked they heard Fluttershy’s voice screaming. “Fluttershy’s in trouble!” Twilight shouted and dashed to sound Apple Jack reluctantly followed and overtook Twilight. They saw Fluttershy cowering, shaking in fear. “It’s alright, Fluttershy,” said Twilight in a gentle voice, “we’re here to…” Applejack pulled Twilight back and gave her a firm look that told Twilight she was being fooled.

“Say, ‘Shy,’ on a scale o’ one ta ten, how scared are ya?

“I’m easily a solid ten,” said ‘Fluttershy’ which in turn caused Applejack to smirk and hand Twilight a notebook, which Twilight noticed was one of her own, it must have fallen out of her bag when they fell. Looks like Applejack had saved it (it was one of her books on Skyborn observations), she decided to do a quick skim through to see the total damage. She stopped at an equation she hadn’t seen before, conveniently in the section marked for Fluttershy, that had a simplistic image of Fluttershy that said that plus scared equals tree, along with a note that said to make a show of being lost. Twilight was his baffled and her confusion on her face was hard to miss.

Applejack unsheathed her sword and paused for a moment as she said something Twilight did not quite understand. After Applejack finished there was a moment of silence and then her body shivered. Applejack then closed the distance between her and ‘Fluttershy'... But ‘Fluttershy’ was fake as she morphed into a gray humanoid, a doppelganger. Applejack ran through the doppelganger and pushed it off her sword in rapid succession. “May the divine have mercy on you.” Applejack then brought her sword down. It was the last thing the doppelganger saw.

“How did you know that was a doppelganger?” Twilight asked as Applejack cleaned the blood and gore off her sword.

“We gotta move, Ah don’t know how many more doppelgangers there might be, but we came across one, there will likely be more.” Applejack said and started to walk with speed. Twilight struggled to keep pace.

Just before Twilight could catch up to Applejack she stumbled upon Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, it's great to see you. Applejack I found Pinkie Pie.” Twilight called out. Applejack turned around and while could not see it, she scanned ‘Pinkie Pie’ like she did when she met Twilight. “Um, Applejack…” Twilight asked.

“Say how are your siblings doing?”

‘Pinkie Pie’ paused for a moment. “Oh, Inkie is off pursuing his painting career per the norm. Blinkie is critiquing movies and Clyde is managing the old homestead.” She answered as if she was a normal person, which caught Twilight completely off, she then noticed Applejack had a raised left eyebrow and her hand on her sword ready to draw. 

“Liar,” Applejack whispered and was about to strike.

“I am not lying,” ‘Pinkie Pie’ protested.

“Where’s your party cannon?” Applejack asked unswayed.

“Party what now?” ‘Pinkie Pie’ asked. At that moment the doppelganger realized it blew its cover.

This time, it was not Applejack that attacked first. It was Twilight, who cast a dispel magic and revealed the doppelganger for what it was and then blasted it with a fireball reducing it to ashes. Applejack just stared at what happened. “I know a few… combat spells, any good mage should know a few.” Twilight said sheepishly. 

“Let’s go, Sugarcube. We’re short on time.” was all Applejack said as she starts the track to find the others again, this time at a slower pace so that Twilight doesn’t fall behind. Well, at least not as far as before. 

After traveling a few yards the two see Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Twilight ran ahead to hug both young women, “It’s so great to see you both…” However, she was stopped by Applejack. “Good to see yah too. Say Rares, remember my ‘Applejewel’ story.”

“Seriously, you have so many first cousins alone, how can anyone outside of your family remember anyone in particular.” Rarity said, only to be bashed into a tree with a backhand by the paladin. 

“Hey Hey Hey, what is wrong with you?” Rainbow Dash asked just as Applejack turned to her.

“Heard from Gilda lately?” Applejack asked. 

“Gil… who?” Rainbow Dash answered and was punched right in the gut. 

“They're fakes, Twi.” Applejack said and started punching the Rainbow Dash first in the face, then in the gut, and she didn't let up. Twilight turned to the Rarity that Applejack backhand previously as she revealed herself to be a doppelganger. Twilight gave a confused look. But it did not last long as she conjured an acid orb and sent it into the doppelganger’s face, followed by casting a frost ray on the same doppelganger, killing the doppelganger then and there. Applejack, on the other hand, managed to get behind the ‘Rainbow Dash’ as it revealed itself to be a doppelganger. She then got hold of the doppelganger's head and shoulder and broke its neck. The two mages turned to each other. “Well, that’s four.” Applejack said looking over.

The two went on a bit further before Twilight Spotted Applejack’s brother, “Applejack, is your brother supposed to be out in the woods this time of days?”

“No, why ya a…” she spotted Big Macintosh coming through the trees towards them, “Mac, what are ya doin’ out ‘ere?”

“Trouble at tha farm, we need yer ‘elp Applejack.”

“Sorry Twi, Ah gotta take this.”

“Are you sure this is something that requires Applejack’s expertise? Seems awfully convenient that she needs to move out and leave me alone with a potentially monumental danger looming over us,” said Twilight.

“Sorry, this ‘ad ta hap…” ‘Macintosh’ didn’t get to finish as Applejack’s blade cut a diagonal slash through his upper torso to reveal another doppelganger.

“Darn it all, Ah always lower mah guard in those sorta situations, thanks for questionin’ like that, once you've been around the Apples long enough ya can pick up on the way they answer stuff, that confirmation was definitely not Mac.”

“I just thought it was almost impossible for Big Mac to find us when you all were talking about how danger…” Twilight trailed off as she thought she saw something like in the forest. “Did you…” Twilight started and stopped as she bolted in the woods.

“Wait!” Applejack said before something knocked her to the side knocking her out but the assailant lost Applejack in the foliage.

Twilight followed the image and standing before her was Princess Celestia. “Princess Celestia! You’re Alive!” Twilight shouted with joy and ran towards her. Celestia turned to face Twilight with a grin.

“Of course, I am, my apprentice. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I got your letter about the…” Twilight stopped when it was just the two of them Celestia would always tease her about using the title and would call Twilight by her name. “You’re a fake.” Twilight realized and said to herself barely audible. “Your grace, I have a question.”

“Certainly, my apprentice, go ahead and ask.” ‘Celestia’ commanded with a neutral expression.

Twilight paused and thought really carefully, Applejack always asked the doppelgangers a question, as it appeared only ones that Applejack and the real Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie knew the real answer. For that fake Big Mac, it seemed to be how he answered the question. After another second she knew what to ask “How did Spike hatch?”

“Dog’s don’t hatch, they give birth, silly.” ‘Celestia’ answered, only to received a fireball square in the chest killing the doppelganger reducing it to ash. 

Twilight panted and began to head back to where she separated from  Applejack. She didn’t have to go far when Applejack just walked up to her. “You alright Twilight. It must have been hard, come on let’s get going.” Applejack said but without her accent. This caused Twilight to raise an eyebrow. Also, Applejack’s face was clean.

Much like with the doppelganger impersonating Celestia, Twilight had to come up with a way to know the fake from the real. “Say Applejack, why didn’t you call me, Sugarcube?” she asked.

Applejack paused and then dove at Twilight, forcing the later to drop her staff. The two started to roll and as the fake Applejack tried to choke Twilight and Twilight was simply trying to stay alive. Unbeknownst to her Twilight knocked the fake Applejack into a tree root causing it to lose its disguise and reveal itself to be a doppelganger. After few more back and forths, Twilight, again unknowingly, bashed the doppelganger’s head. This time into a rock killing it. She got off it and took a moment to collect herself from what just happened before trying to backtrack.





Meanwhile, Applejack heard Twilight’s voice distorted as she was coming to. “Applejack, are you alright? Applejack?” Applejack heard as she opened her eyes and got to her feet. After shaking her head she was able to focus her vision. Soon she was able to see and hear almost as well as she did before she was knocked out… for the most pa… not really.

“Ah’m alright. Just a bit disoriented.” Applejack said as she placed her right hand on her head as she tried to focus. “Give me a moment, Sugarcube.” After a few seconds, Applejack was able to regain her focus and there was Twilight right in front of her. She shook her head once more. Yes, it was Twilight in front of her.

“We should get going, we have to find the others,” Twilight said as she started to panic.

“Calm down, Sugarcube. We got to worry about t’em doppelgangers. We came across five and there will likely be more because if there is more than one, who knows how many there are.” The two started to head out. 

“Um Applejack, care to clue me in, but in a way that won’t let the fakes know,” said Twilight.

Applejack then realized something, “Twilight, what was the first thing Spike did when he jumped on the table?”

“Pets on the table are just…” the fake Twilight didn’t get a chance to finish before she had the paladin’s sword run through her. And after making sure it was dead, Applejack used her left good to push the doppelganger off of her blade. 

“Now to double back for Twi.” Applejack muttered as saw the path Twilight made when she ran after that clearly fake Celestia just before she (Applejack) was knocked out fake Twilight.

At the same time Twilight seemed a little lost, she had double back to pick up her staff, which had been dropped in the commotion with the fake Applejack after she (Twilight) ran after that doppelganger impersonating Celestia. Looking up she saw what looked like her brother in full armor approaching, not too unusual since she knew Shining Armor was prone to such things, but then something hit her, much like with the Big Mac and Celestia impersonators but this time Twilight was much faster with the revelation and coming up with the way to make sure this was a fake. “Ice magic,” she said to the approaching Shining Armor.

“Do we really have time to discuss that kind of spellcraft?” Responded the approaching Shining Armor, next thing he knew a massive blast of lightning and fire tore his upper torso from his lower torso just as the doppelganger lost its hold on the disguise, thankfully Applejack saw this when she double back after dispatching the fake Twilight.

“Care ta explain that one, Sugarcube,” said Applejack.

“What did I start after having lunch with your family?” Twilight said quickly.

“A burpin’ contest, Apple Bloom won,” said Applejack.

“The ice magic thing is a bit of an inside joke with me and my BBBFF.” Applejack stared at Twilight. “Sorry, Big Brother Best Friend Forever, if you want I’ll tell you all the story after this whole thing is over.”

“Sounds like quite tha story,” said Applejack, “let’s ‘ead outta find tha others,” with that the two headed out.

“So, since we’re dealing with copies is there anything I should know about everyone else?”

“Ah can’t say ‘ere, the wrong sort might be listenin’ in. Just stick ta askin’ questions of anybody ya see based on yer interactions wid them so far. Wait, how do ya not know how this all works, aren’t ya some sorta prodigy.”

“In magic, yes, but I have very little real-world experience, next time we get separated ask any ‘me’ you see something academic, the real one should able to sort it out without much issue,” Twilight answered. 

The two continued on their way to the others, suddenly something hit Twilight, “Applejack, some paladins have a spell for detecting evil, doesn’t that mean you have a spell for the reverse? If so you could figure out the general direction of everyone in relation to us.”

“That ain’t how it works, ya see all us paladins can cast that spell, detect evil, at will, but we’d have to learn how to cast ‘detect good’, but that would only help with finding you, and Pinkie Pie. There are two other variations, detect lawful and detect chaotic, but ya get the idea.” Applejack answered. “Besides it’s not like that just around this tree there are two copies of our band, minus you bickering about how come they can’t find yah,” Applejack joked and just around the tree as they walked they came upon the scene Applejack just jested. “Well buck mah orchard.” Applejack all but cursed as the ten doppelgangers turned to see Twilight and Applejack. “Yah got any spells that can take out a decade of them varmen?"

“What?”

“Oh for the…” Applejack muttered and drew her sword. “YE-HA!” Applejack shouted as she leaped into the group and started to take them on, mostly on her own.

Twilight then took a look through her spell book, she needed something to help Applejack. Fireball, no that’s an area effect spell, lightning bolt… no Applejack is the only one with metal… Wait… only one with metal… “APPLEJACK RAISE YOUR SWORD UP WHEN I SAY ‘NOW’ AND STAY PERFECTLY STILL UNTIL IT IS OVER!” Twilight ordered.

Applejack didn’t question, she had to earn Twilight's trust so that meant giving Twilight her’s. Applejack continued to fight deeply slashing and cleaving the doppelgangers, and while it knocked them down, it did not knock any out as they started to get back up. “NOW!” Twilight shouted and Applejack obeyed holding her sword aloft. She then felt something hit her sword and then she witness lightning come off her sword and struck down and vanquished all ten doppelgangers as they surrounded Applejack, leaving them all smoking piles of ash. The two were about to share a smile as another doppelganger dropped from one of the trees and landed between them. Twilight sent a Ray of frost at it as Applejack stabbed it all the way through.

After pulling her sword out, “and that makes 20. Ah hope the others had it easier. With any luck, we’ll bump into soon.” Applejack said, little knowing that the clearing where Fluttershy and Rarity were was just a few paces ahead.





Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie walked past the body of the fifteenth doppelgangers they came across and continued on. “I thought doppelgangers were supposed to be highly intelligent, but these guys were down right… stupid. Copying us and such.” Rainbow Dash said rolling her shoulders to loosen them up from her rapid fire.

“Yeah, that one did, you, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.” Pinkie Pie commented as she put her mallet away and pulled out of her pockets a unicycle and some juggling balls.

“Then you said ‘Do me! Do me!’ and it of all things actually copied you.” Rainbow Dash said electing to just let a sleeping dog lie.

“Yeah, but I’ve seen better. And then boom went my party cannon.” Pinkie Pie said looking back at what happened as she rode her unicycle and juggle the balls.

“Yeah, but did you have to do it with me so close. I could have lost my hearing.” Rainbow Dash said as she cringed remembering almost going deaf.

“Sorry I can get a little carried away. Say do you know where we’re going?” Pinkie Pie asked as she rode her unicycle juggling the balls around Rainbow Dash as she hovered on.

“We got to find Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight.” Rainbow Dash answered, not showing that she was actually amused by Pinkie Pie’s actions, but she had to give credit to the jester, she knew how to lighten the mood. “If I recall correctly, the skyboat was shot…”

“Blown to smithereens, Dashie.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Anyway, it was right about there.” Rainbow Dash pointed to a clearing in the trees to the sky. “Given that Fluttershy took Rarity and Fluttershy most likely went… Fluttertree, that should put them about 5 meters off to our right.” Rainbow Dash said as pictured the likely descent of Fluttershy in her tree form.

“Or we could just follow those two of you, they seem to be in a hurry.” Pinkie Pie said pointing to two Rainbow Dashes that were running to where Rainbow Dash assumed Fluttershy and Rarity would be. The two booked it only to find Rarity under a wild apple tree with Fluttershy’s mark on the trunk with thirteen… fourteen… fifteen dead doppelgangers and the two were greeted by a stone and an apple that nearly missed both their heads. “Hold on it’s the real us!” Rainbow shouted as she blocked a third with her bow.

“Prove it. What is the name of Rainbow Dash’s little sister?” Rarity asked as she prepared another small stone.

“Trick question Rainbow is an only child. As for me, well, I never go anywhere without my …” Pinkie Pie answered and pulled out one of her pockets... “welcome-wagon?...So that’s the pocket I put it in. I really should start labeling my pockets.” Pinkie Pie said as she scratched her head.

“Also Rarity loves those noir romance mystery novels starring that female detective Shadow Shade, for whatever reason as it's the always the guy she meets for a date on the first night that did the crime or at least was the mastermind of the crime, every time. Now, how do we know you’re the real Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yeah, how do we know?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Pinkie Pie’s birthday is the day after her pet alligator, Gummy, birthday. Rainbow Dash while the head of the Magiville Branch of the Weather Management, technically doesn’t live in Magiville and is technically still a resident of Cumula.”

“Yep, she’s the real Rarity.” Pinkie Pie said after giving a moment of thought. “One more question, chimicherry or cherrychanga?”

“Trick question, cumquat.” Rarity said answering the question pinching the bridge of her nose. “Must you remind us all of the time we all missed the train back from Dodge Junction after that rodeo Applejack and Big Mac entered and invited all of us along for and that we had to use a hand-rail cart halfway to Magiville. Fortunately, Big Mac was able to go for hours on end and that the train was delayed in Appleloosa where we managed to catch it or I would have developed calluses on my hands.” Rarity said as she rubbed her delicate hands and shuttered at the memory.

“Okay you’re the real Rarity, so how did you take out fifteen doppelgangers?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked around.

“Well my ability makes it so I can levitate and fling small stones did a fair amount of the work, but when you have a tree on your side that can move her roots and chuck her own apples, well I wouldn’t be alive without Fluttershy.” Rarity said as she placed a hand on the tree right behind her.

“Now all we have to do is wait for Applejack and Twilight to find us.”

“There they are…” Pinkie Pie said pointing as they saw Applejack and Twilight enter the clearing. “You can tell they are the real one due to the clay on their faces.” Pinkie Pie continued.

“Applejack, I am so…” Pinkie said as she ran over but stopped as Applejack drew her sword. “Wait wait wait, it’s the real Pinkie, look.” Pinkie Pie said as she reached into one of her pockets and pulled out… “My party cannon,” Pinkie said sheepishly as she pulled out said cannon hoping that it convinced Applejack.

“Yep, you’re the Real Pinkie, Sugarcube.” Applejack said as she turned to Twilight. “So Rarity… Applejewel?” Applejack said to the fashion savvy enchantress.

“It’s bad enough that you actually got the chance to live in Manahatten and left it, but must you constantly rem… you were testing to see if I am the real Rarity.” Rarity said as she noticed everyone, even Fluttertree, save Twilight giggle and snort trying to hold back laughter. “That’s not very funny.”

After a few seconds, Applejack got serious and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Which of us won the last running of the leaves?”

“It was a tie, I won in terms of speed and getting to end of the race, but you won in terms of collecting the most leaves.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“I thought you were going to ask her about Gilda? And Pinkie Pie about her family?” Twilight asked as she noted what Applejack questioned the doppelgangers.

“Haven't heard from Gilda for a while, but that's typical of harpies.” Rainbow Dash answered.

“I have three sisters, Maud, Limestone, and Marble, now Maud and Limestone are older than me and Marble is my slightly younger twin, but she’ll always be the baby of the family. She’s a lot like Fluttershy… but shy-ier and less fluttery.” Pinkie Pie answered as she pulled out a picture of her family when she was a child. “The two other people are our parents, Ingenious Rock Pie and Cloudy Quartz Pie.” Pinkie Pie said as she showed the picture of her family to Twilight. After taking it back she pocketed it.

“Okay, where is…” Twilight started to ask and looked for Fluttershy, but paused as she saw the tree behind Rarity morph into Fluttershy. “You actually can turn into a tree?” Twilight was at a complete loss. She knew very powerful druids possessed the ability to change into plants, but she didn’t think Fluttershy had that much innate primal power. Getting a group of animals to do something via magic was one thing, but changing your body to that of another creature or thing was some seriously high-level magic she was still researching herself.

“When I was really really little, someone mixed Wilden DNA with mine. I don’t remember anything about it,” Fluttershy answered. “I only shared it with my closest friends.”

“So that’s how Applejack knew those doppelgangers weren't you? Hah.” 

“Speakin’ o’ knowin’ things,” said Applejack, “Ah’m sensin’ a large void o’ somethin’ nasty headin’ our way.”

“Demon or undead?” Twilight asked not liking either answer.

“Feels mostly like undead, but there’s somethin’ off about’ tha feel, like somethin’ extra corruptive is present as well, an’ it feels like it's gettin’ closer.” Applejack answered as her body gave a shiver.

“Wait, what?” Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy asked in confusion.

“Holy type casters like Clerics and Paladins have the ability to detect demons and undead,” said Twilight, “but only the general direction and they get a rough feeling regarding total power output, it can either indicate a real powerful one or a hoard of weaker ones based on what she just said.”

“Partly true, we paladins can actually detect any evil bein’ close enough at will and we can make desertions that cleric and such can’t.” Applejack pointed out.

“So, we got a fight heading our way, nice,” said Rainbow Dash as she readied her bow, “I’ve been itching to try some new tricks in real combat for a while now.”

“Not a good idea. Twilight and Ah came across 20 doppelgangers and Ah see ya’ll come across fifteen…”

“Actually, Dashie and I fought fifteen ourselves,” Pinkie Pie pointed out.

“So a total of 50 doppelgangers, and what we have is not one single undead, it’s a century of t’em varmin.”

“Well,” Twilight interjected, “Doppelgangers usually don’t work with undead unless one of them knows what kind of magic or they’re allied with a force that can pull that kind of thing off. They also usually tend to be rather weak-willed, kind of ironic considering their borderline empathic abilities, whatever is behind all this has the power to get a hoard of doppelgangers and who knows what else to follow them or it, we’re talking some high-level magic on the level of an archmage or hierophant.”

"Sugarcube, now ain't the time for that.” Applejack said as she scanned the tree line as zombified satyrs, fauns and doppelgangers crept towards them and would be on them shortly. Fluttershy gave a meep of fright and was starting to turn into a tree again but was grabbed by Applejack. “Oh no, you don’t, Sugarcube. Ah need ya’ll to make a barrier.” 

“What?” Pinkie Pie asked baffled.

“There are 100 undead heading our way. We cannot fight them and live. But Ah have an idea. Now there is a chance we still won’t make it out of this alive. But there is no other option.”

“AJ what are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked at a lost. She was not the only one.

“There this thing Granny Smith taught Big Mac and mah, called Turn Undead. Now Ah ain't a cleric so there is a chance it will kill us all in the process, but it will put to rest all these undead.”

“What kind of chance are we talking about? Like 15%, 42%, 81.73%?” Twilight asked clearly scared out of her wits. “And I read up on that spell, it’s just the weak undead that will effectively become dust, the more powerful one will just try moving away from the caster.”

Applejack placed her right hand on Twilight's shoulder. Her face was stern but her eyes were soft. “Ah don’t know the likelihood of us surviving this, but Ah know if Ah don’t do this we ain't getting out of this alive, but whatever it might be it’s worth a shot.” was all the paladin said. 

Twilight looked at the others. First to Fluttershy, Twilight could tell that the druid was not fond of the idea but she was siding with the paladin. Then Twilight turned to Rarity, she could see the enchantress debating with herself but it showed she was siding with Applejack. Next Pinkie Pie, the jester looked like she was planning… her own wake as if she resolved herself to Applejack's plan and wanted to make sure her last party would be one to go out on. Finally she turned to Rainbow Dash, clearly, the Elementalist wanted to actually fight but accepted Applejack’s plan. Twilight took a breath and a leap of faith. “My brother is an ardent and he specializes in shield spells. He taught me one. But I am going to need four more people channeling their magic into it, I am not skilled enough to do it alone.” 

Applejack’s face softened as she let go of Twilight and found an open patch of grass and went down on one knee. She took her right hand and touched her forehead and heart and started whispering in a language the others did not understand, but Twilight remembered hearing it before she attacked the first doppelganger the two came across.

Twilight took her staff and drew a circle around Applejack. After a few seconds, everyone was in the circle in a pentagram formation around Applejack. “You Shall Not Pass!” Twilight shouted as the bubble-like shield manifested around the six. “Everyone place your hands on the barrier. Also, try to cross each other, the more points of contact with the shield there are and the more of the shield is overlaid between each of us, the stronger the shield will be and the longer it will hold.”

Everyone did as Twilight instructed and just in time as they were surrounded. The undead began to beat the shield, first with their hands, then with their heads and then with the weapons they picked up. The shield held with each blow but soon it became clear that this shield may not last as long as Twilight hoped, mostly because the spell Twilight used, or rather the variant was meant to be supported by five Magicborns, not two Magicborns, two Skyborns and an Earthborn. and as such it could not tap into the very power of the world through Pinkie Pie’s connection to the earth. Nor could it be supplemented by the primal elemental forces via Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The shield soon revealed its weakest point, right in front of Twilight herself and the undead caught on... 

Twilight could not hold it, the barrier and the shield were just about to shatter as Applejack shouted “AMEN!” and from the paladin, a light engulfed the six mages and then the whole of the Everfree forest felt the shock of the exploding light. Nothing living was in fact harmed, shaken up a little but unharmed.

When the light vanished Twilight looked around and the other five were on the ground...unharmed. “Hoo-wi! Remind mah to never do that again. Turning Undead is something Ah should leave for Big Mac to do.” Applejack said as she got back up.

Twilight was utterly flabbergasted, Applejack, a fairly low-level paladin so successfully turned one hundred undead that she obliterated them. That was two extraordinary feats of their respective classes performed by Fluttershy and Applejack. “Why didn't you say you could do that?” Twilight asked as everyone checked to see that they in fact survived. 

“Ah didn’t know I would be as successful. Ah didn't want to miss-lead ya-all with false hope.” Applejack said sheepishly.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash shouted Pinkie Pie was much more cheerful while Rainbow Dash’s was more out of sheer excitement. 

“We mustn’t go through that again.” Rarity said annoyed as she brushed her dress off. “But that was very impressive.” Rarity complimented. 

“Um...which way do we go from here?” Fluttershy interjected and everyone froze in the realization.

“Give me a moment.” Applejack as she kneeled on the ground, this time, she placed her right hand on the ground and held her left hand up. After a few seconds, her left hands point in the direction they were originally flying in. “Ah’m feeling a powerful evil in that direction.”

“How can you tell it’s powerful?” Rarity asked. 

“Ah can feel it all the way here. Now let’s get a moving.” Applejack said and started leading the way.

“Are you certain?” Twilight asked not entirely convinced.

“Have Ah ever willfully led you astray, Twilight?” Applejack asked, slowly she and the others were getting ahead of Twilight.

Twilight paused for a moment and thought. No, she hasn’t led me astray. She has only been honest. Twilight answered in her own mind. Just as she started heading in the direction Applejack surmised to be the right way based on detecting a great evil, most likely Nightmare Moon, her tome started to glow, but only she noticed it. She opened it and found on a formerly blank page there was a picture of a ruby and a description of the Element of Loyalty and what constituted its bearer. A while Applejack seemed to meet most of the criteria of, there was something that felt off as Applejack it’s bearer. Something else was off, the last sentence was not punctuated with a normal period but a lightning bolt. Twilight quickly shut the book and looked back up to see Applejack coming right back at her, clearly not happy. “NOW AIN’T THE TIME TO BE READIN’! WE LOST A WHOLE LOT OF TIME WITH T’EM DOPPELGANGERS AND UNDEAD! LET’S MOVE!” Applejack scolded loudly, a little… a lot louder than she needed to but it drove home the point, as she grabbed Twilight’s left arm. Twilight could only give a ‘teehee’ as they two caught up with the rest.





Hydia arrived at the ruins, clearly not in the best of shape. The Tantabus was the first to speak. “So the apprentice, where is her cadaver?” he asked looking for Twilight’s body.

“Well after assessing that they had a paladin, I sent the doppelgangers and the undead to finish them. We should be seeing the boat I left in on the horizon any second.”  Hydia said as she turned expecting to see the skyboat, but everyone witnessed a huge hemisphere of light grow and then collapse as the shock wave of light traversed the forest.  Hydia’s jaw just hung open.

“Oh so sad, using undead against a paladin,” Catrina mocked cried as she took out her whip. “Maybe you should consider using beings not inherently evil, like my Diamond Dogs and Rep.” Catrina continued to hammer in Hydia’s failure.  Hydia’s stupor ended as she turned to Catrina and was very close to getting into a cat-fight, but it was clear that she was at a lost.

“Well my pets, for each of the six you don’t bring back dead you’ll get fifteen lashes,” Catrina said as she cracked the whip. The Diamond Dogs and Rep took the hint as they ran with purpose into the forest. Catrina, however, made a spot for herself to be comfortable and reclined.

Hydia  then turned her attention back to Magiville, “I have more than one plan.” She then vanished in a shadow. Tantabus just started to rub the side of his head and sighed in frustration over the actions and lack thereof ‘the help’ aside from Catrina and  Hydia as Nightshade continued to sleep in her roost and Grogar was internally plotting his own takeover… like the old satyr had a chance, his son failed with a much larger force when Mystica’s army was at its weakest and smallest and Necromancy doesn’t work on the twelve members of The Order of Shadows, as only Nightmare Moon herself can dismiss them. 

This was going to be a long night...and he had nothing to drink…